A Mother of a Day
by TStabler
Summary: Mother's Day brings with it a few big surprises, as Olivia, a guy named Steve, Elliot, Kathy, and the Stabler kids attempt to have dinner together. Words are thrown back and forth and lives are changed forever. One-Shot


**A/N: A Mother's Day One-Shot. Enjoy!**

**DISCLAIMER: Dick Wolf owns SVU and its characters. TStabler© owns the narrative, dialogue and plot of this story**

This is not where Olivia Benson imagined she'd be on Mother's Day. She was planning on staying home, lying in bed, eating ice cream, watching movies that had nothing to do with mothers. She did not plan on being at some classy restaurant with Elliot, Kathy, a guy named Steve and all four Stabler kids.

She was staring at Elliot, running a finger around the rim of her wine glass, which had gone untouched. She hadn't taken a single sip. She completely missed everything Kathy had said, until now.

"And we want you to be the godmother, Olivia."

"I'm sorry," Olivia said, blinking rapidly. "What?"

Kathy chuckled. "There's only two months left, Olivia. And I would like you to be the baby's Godmother. What do you say?"

"I say I would love to drink this wine right now," Olivia replied with a cough and a sigh, running a hand through her hair. "Wow, Kathy, uh, wow. Why?"

"Why?" Elliot asked. "You're asking her why?"

"Yes, Elliot," Olivia said, her chest contracting. "I'm asking her why. She hates me. The woman hates me."

Kathy's eyes widened. The kids laughed. Elliot tried to stifle his own chuckle.

"I do not hate you," Kathy said, stunned.

"Yes you do," Olivia said, matter-of-factly. "You've hated me for years. Every time I came over for dinner you'd make these horrible, condescending comments. 'Gee, Olivia, not many women have the jaw line to pull off that haircut, but look at you go.' Or, 'That color really doesn't look good on most people, but wow, can you pull it off or what?" She raised the glass to her lips, caught herself, then put it down. "Can I have your water, El?"

Elliot nodded and handed it to her. "Here," he said, raising an eyebrow. Why was she only drinking water?

Kathy bit her lip and looked at Elliot. "I...I don't hate her, Elliot. I may have a been a bit jealous, but I realize now that she's very..."

"She's sitting right here!" Olivia said with a narrow-eyed look. "You did that all the time, too. You think I couldn't hear you? God, last Christmas. 'Elliot, you should tell Olivia that her dress might be giving the other men in the room the wrong impression." Hey, Kathy, I was giving the very _right_ impression to one, specific man, thank you very much."

"You heard that?" Kathy asked, biting her lip.

"I was standing right in front of you, and I'm not deaf, so yeah, I did," Olivia said, sipping her water again.

Maureen laughed. "This is so cool."

"It's like the battle of the moms," Kathleen said.

"What?" Olivia said, suddenly looking panicked. "I'm not a mom."

Dickie looked at his father. "Okay, stepmom, then," he said. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Olivia said, downing her water. "I need more of, uh, whatever this was."

"It was water, Liv," Elliot said, looking very concerned. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Olivia nodded, turning her attention to Kathy. "You know I'm not Catholic, right?" she asked. "I don't even believe in God. I laugh in Church, Kathy. I think it's hysterical. Ask anyone."

"It's true," Lizzie said, smiling. "It keeps us awake, though. It's rather entertaining."

Olivia narrowed her eyes. "Godparents are responsible for the religious upbringing of your child, Kathy, so unless you want this kid to be an atheist..."

"Fine," Kathy spat, loudly, shocking the table. "You want the truth? I asked because I wanted to impress Elliot, okay? I wanted to keep your damn husband in my life, and this was the only way I knew how."

"What?" Steve asked, looking angry.

Kathy looked at Steve and said, "I'm sorry, honey. I just...I wanted to actually aske Elliot, but you want your brother to be the Godfather so I thought that..."

"You still want Elliot, don't you?" Steve asked, accusing.

"No, not...not like that," Kathy said.

Olivia scoffed. "Bull," she mumbled, drinking the water that the waiter had just poured for her.

"Oh, ya know what? I do hate you, Olivia. I don't want you anywhere near my baby," Kathy said, seething. "Aside from having no sense of style or femininity, you take far too many risks, you have an attitude the size of Alaska, you can't cook, you can't really clean, and you have never had a real mother so I can't expect you to even know how to raise a child!"

"She did a damn good job raising yours," Elliot said, smirking. He found this all quite amusing. He missed Olivia gasp and shoot her hands to her stomach, though.

"Excuse me?" Kathy spat.

Kathleen, trying to sound serious as she, too, hid her laughter, said, "She kind of did, actually. She was there for us when you weren't. Which was pretty much the entirety of the last five years."

"She was, clearly, there for Dad when you weren't, too," Dickie added with his own smug Stabler-grin.

A few chuckles erupted, form everyone except Olivia. She was staring into her water, tears in her eyes. "Oh, God," she said, looking pale. "She's right."

"What?" Kathy, Steve, and Elliot said at once.

"Kathy's right," Olivia said. "I don't know how to raise a child. Not from birth...not when it's mine. I can't cook, I don't clean, Jesus Christ, I'm gonna kill the thing! I can't even keep a goldfish alive for more than two days! I had a pet rock as a kid, and it was too much responsibility, I threw it out of the fucking window. I can not have this baby."

"Baby?" Elliot gasped.

Maureen and Kathleen were slack jawed.

"Nice going, Kathy," Lizzie spat, folding her arms.

"Mom, you're having a baby?" Dickie asked.

Olivia looked at her stepson. "Yeah, if I want it to die, I'm having it."

"Baby?" Elliot asked again, tears in his eyes.

"Mom," Maureen said, "Kathy's an idiot. You're a wonderful mother!"

"Hey," Kathy spat. "Sitting right here!"

Steve scoffed. "Doesn't feel too good, does it?" he asked, watching as her face fell. Now she knew how Olivia felt.

Elliot moved his chair closer to Olivia's and wrapped his arms around her. "We're having a baby? Really?"

Olivia nodded. "I was gonna tell you when they brought out the cake, but now I...I don't think I can..."

"Liv, baby," Elliot said, kissing the tears away from her eyelids, "You've raised my kids for the last five years. Look at them, honey. You did an amazing job." He sniffled as he looked her in the eyes. "Sweetie, you're nothing like what Kathy said you are. You know that don't you?"

"Yeah, I am," Olivia sniffled.

"Liv, I need you to listen to me, baby," he said. "You've made them who they are. The twins were only nine, and now look. You've got two, well-rounded, stable teenagers. And you got Maureen and Kathleen through high school, the toughest time of their lives."

Olivia nodded as she sobbed. "I know that, but they were already fully functional people." She dropped her head to his chest and mumbled, "I'm going to raise a completely dysfunctional baby."

"No, you won't," Kathy said, sighing. "Olivia, please. Please don't cry. You're a great mother."

Olivia and Elliot, and the four kids, stared at her, stunned.

Kathy took a breath and spoke. "I may hate you, a little, but you are really amazing. You know how to handle kids. You give them amazing advice. You keep them grounded, you're a very calming presence, Olivia, look how great you are with your victims. You're incredibly protective, I mean, you've kept Elliot alive for the last five years and you know if anyone hurt my...our kids, you'd kill them."

Elliot gave her a squeeze and a knowing smile as she calmed down.

"You've been to every game," Kathy continued. "And every school play, every concert, every recital, every parent-teacher conference. You stayed up all night with Kathleen when Dan broke her heart, and you went to work the next day, came home, and took Dickie to his baseball game. You did all of things I never did, and held down a very demanding job. You are an incredible mother, and that baby is very, very lucky. I just said those things to..." she paused, looked at them, and tilted her head. "Why are you all laughing? I'm being nice! Really nice, this time!"

"You like Olivia," Steve said. "You just admitted that you actually like her."

"No, I didn't," Kathy said. "I said she was a great mother."

Lizzie smirked. "You like her," she said, moving so the waiter could put the cake down.

"See, this is what I wanted this mother's day," Maureen said. "My mothers, getting along. Though, if we're being completely honest, Olivia's more of a..."

"Mo, honey, not on Mother's Day, okay?" Elliot said, his hands instinctively encircling Olivia's waist, rubbing her not-there-at-all-yet-belly.

"Hey," Dickie said, perking up, "It's Mom's first real Mother's Day!" He looked at Kathy and said, "Uh, Olivia's."

"I know you all call her 'Mom,' and I know you have for at least three years," Kathy said. "It doesn't bother me."

"Good," Kathleen said. "And it was four years but...whatever."

Elliot looked down at Olivia who was not crying anymore, and looked almost as happy as she did the day they got married. "Happy Mother's Day, baby," he said, kissing her.

"Yeah," Lizzie said. "Happy Mother's Day. Both Moms!"

All of the kids echoed the sentiment as Steve cut the cake. Then Olivia looked up at Kathy and raised her water glass. "Happy Mother's Day, Kathy."

Kathy rolled her eyes, then smiled as she raised her glass, too. "Happy Mother's Day, Olivia."

**A/N: Just because no one ever does Mother's Day fics. Happy Mother's Day to all you MOMMAS out there! **


End file.
